Small Warsaw protest disappoints expatriate

Sunday

Nov 27, 2011 at 12:01 AM

Editor's note: Mary Niesluchowska, a New Bedford High School and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth graduate, first went to Poland in 1973 to pursue her master's degree. She has lived in Warsaw the past 24 years. Every so often, she touches base with her hometown newspaper — which she did in this piece dated Oct. 15 after the recent Occupy New Bedford protest.

MARY NIESLUCHOWSKA

Editor's note: Mary Niesluchowska, a New Bedford High School and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth graduate, first went to Poland in 1973 to pursue her master's degree. She has lived in Warsaw the past 24 years. Every so often, she touches base with her hometown newspaper — which she did in this piece dated Oct. 15 after the recent Occupy New Bedford protest.

Since I couldn't be in New Bedford, I did it in Warsaw. After a beautiful and warm fall, it's our first cold day, a perfect analogy for a protest against the merging of money and politics and the 99 percent being left out in the cold. I arrive at the university gates to see only about 200 people. How disappointing from a country that changed the world system 30 years ago. What will it take to get the Poles back in the streets? They already have at least a 25 percent unemployment rate and 60 percent live in poverty. In 1981, they were fighting a "bad" system. What do you do when the "good" system turns out to be no better? But the energy and enthusiasm is high and the press is out in force with their reporters and mobile satellite trucks. It is a Saturday after all and a slow news day.

Although it wasn't SMU in 1970 at the height of the Vietnam protests that I remember, the energy and enthusiasm was like then. It's amazing how a future without jobs can galvanize young people. This is the first generation in Poland where a college degree does not guarantee a job. And if by some chance they find something, the contracts are on a temporary basis so the employer can pay minimum wage (the average regular wage in Poland is already only $300 a month) and no benefits. Sound familiar? No one is more surprised than the recent grads, born during capitalism and brought up to believe the lies.

Hanging around with my dog and my 200 new friends, waiting for the march to begin, we suddenly saw all the reporters run to gather around someone. When I asked who it was, I was told it was one of the politicians of the "Left" party (who lost badly in last week's election). When I asked why aren't they talking to us, we all started shouting, "Hey, turn the cameras on us. We're the 99%. We are the important ones. What have the politicians done for us? They are why we are here!" The press totally ignored us but they all work for corporate media, so what do you expect?

As the march began, I passed a cordon of cops (who make $400 a month) and said to them, "You're part of the 99 percent as well." "We know," they answered. "Good luck."

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